I. Field of the Invention
The current invention relates to communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel method and apparatus for reducing power consumption of a decoder in a communication system.
II. Description of the Related Art
Several communication systems exchange data organized into packets, among the terminals in a communication system. For the purposes of this description, a packet is a group of bits, including data (payload) and control elements, arranged into a specific format. The packets to be communicated are formatted in accordance with a selected communication channel structure. In general, a communication channel structure is comprised from smallest organizational structures, e.g., slots. For the purposes of this description, a slot is a fixed time interval comprising a variable number of bits depending on a data rate. When the number of bits of a packet exceeds the number of bits in a slot, the packet must be communicated over several slots as a multi-slot packet. The packet may be arranged among the slots of the communication channel structure so that each slot following the first slot contains redundant bits of the packet with respect to the first slot. Consequently, the whole payload content of a currently sent packet has been communicated to a receiving station when the first slot has been communicated. Therefore, if the receiving station can decode the current packet before it has been transmitted in its entirety, it can notify a transmitting station, and the transmission of the current packet can be terminated, thereby increasing the effective data rate.
The straightforward method of determining whether a current packet can be decoded early is to attempt decoding after each slot of the multi-slot transmission. However, this strategy results in high power consumption by the decoder.
Consequently, there is a need for a strategy aimed at minimizing decoder power consumption, while providing the benefits of early termination.